The four study areas of the tidal currents along the coast of the Andaman Sea in southwestern Thailand: Pak Phra strait in Phuket-Phangha (top left), Ranong estuary (top right), Krabi estuary (bottom left), and Trang estuary (bottom right).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2025.04.043
the tidal excursion between the Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas, resulting in currents that demonstrate high predictability and relative stability over time. The Messina Strait is a narrow strip of water that
separates the island of Sicily from mainland Italy and is characterised by a semi-diurnal tidal current. An energy assessment undertaken by Michele Agueci and Emiliano Pipitone focuses on open flow tidal turbines, and the total energy produced was calculated by integrating current velocities over a whole year with 15-minutes time intervals. The coastal profile and the bathymetry of the location
selected led to the development of a theoretical tidal energy park consisting of 113 horizontal axis tidal turbines, with a total installed capacity of 271MW and an annual production of nearly 145GWh. The authors say these results show that tidal turbines
present a viable option to increase the share of the region’s renewable energy production. Although currently theoretical, they claim their work lays a solid foundation for further investigation into tidal energy exploitation. Future studies will focus on optimising this generation park and its technology, focusing on a better exploitation of the current energy and turbine technology. In conclusion, they add that tidal energy represents a promising renewable energy source for Italy, with the potential to significantly contribute to the country’s energy and climate goals with targeted investments and further research to help promote its development.
Thailand The coast of the Andaman Sea in Southern Thailand
has recently been assessed for its technical and
economic potential for tidal power generation. Four areas along the coast were studied and
the results show that the highest annual energy production could reach 160MWh per year, while the annual energy production from a ten-unit cluster of the most efficient tidal current turbine was 79 MWh/year. As Klompong et al explain in their research published
in Energy Reports, the spatial measurements of the tidal current speeds in four target areas showed that the Krabi and Trang provinces are characterised by relatively strong tidal currents, with the maximum tidal current speeds of approximately 1.15m/sec. For its part, the Phuket-Phang Nga provinces have maximum tidal current speeds of 0.87m/sec, while the Ranong province shows the lowest tidal current speeds, at a peak speed of 0.44 m/sec. These values were consistent with the mathematical simulations showing that the southern part of the Andaman Sea coast, from Phang Nga to Trang, has the highest power densities due to the tidal current speeds being the most important in the area studied. The Pak Phra Strait in the Phuket-Phangnga
Provinces was identified as a potential site for a tidal current power plant. The estimated economic indices showed that the benefit-cost ratio was 1.32, the net present value was US$0.09 million, with the payback period 12 years under the fixed internal rate of return of 7 % and an appropriate FiT of 0.39 USD/kWh. However, as the authors conclude, under the
available present technologies and costs, ‘a tidal power investment in Thailand is not economically viable without financial subsidies or incentives by various levels of government’.
References
www.emec.org.uk/ tidal-power-has- potential-to-address- energy-challenges-faced-by- scottish-coastal-communities
Tidal Industry Seal Project Managing the consenting risk of harbour seal collision in the Scottish tidal energy industry by Ewan Edwards, Ian Davies, Gianlucca Gerich, Millie Green, Donald Leaver, James McKie, Abi McLean, Patrick Munro, James Murray, Kate Smith. May 2025.
A tidal energy assessment in the strait of Messina. Michele Agueci, Emiliano Pipitone. Ener-gy Nexus. Volume 19, September 2025, 100464.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j. nexus.2025.100464
Tidal energy assessment along the coast of the Andaman Sea in Southern Thailand Narit Klompong, Jompob Waewsak Somphol Chiwamongkhonkarn, Ruamporn Nikhom, Chu-leerat Kongruang, Yves Gagnon. Energy Reports. Volume 13, June 2025, Pages 4827-4845.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j. egyr.2025.04.043
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